The Takamachi-Tomoe Experiment
by Twei
Summary: A fanfic of a fanfic? Based on Nanoha Magica: First Contact, but with some twists in the story. Now even more endorsed by Lycoson! (ultra squee!)
1. Foreword, Tremors

This is FanFiction, of course I don't own anything! What did you expect? Also, this intro is a bit of a legacy written before Nanoha Magica's recent updates, and then the author went and endorsed this via PM. I'll put in my thoughts on that, along with the entire experience of writing this, _when it's finished~_

This is very much inspired by Sergio Turbo's excellent IrregularS fic, which is almost certainly better than this one. Honestly, you should read it before reading this one. That fic led me to realize how similar Homura and Nanoha's battle philosophies really were, which led to the start of this.

And then I found Nanoha Magica: First Contact. And I was like god damn it this premise is too good. It didn't help that the fic really ought to be finished, holding other things constant. As it stands, it's just a cliffhanger, one that doesn't look like it'll be resolved anytime soon.

So, with much shame, if you want things done right you have to do them yourself...

Of course, I'm not just going to copy someone else's fic without permission. Imitation may be the highest form of flattery, but it's also an insult to yourself, and that's not even getting into legal issues.

...but yeah, this is basically a fanfic of a fanfic (possibly two at once!). I'm not sure what that says about me. I considered having this be a simpler thing just about Mami in the Nanohaverse. After all, her magic style fits rather well with the Mid style, and like Nanoha, she has a penchant for dramatic finishers (and drama in general). Her under Nanoha's tutelage is an interesting thought in and of itself.

...But in the end, I figured I'd go the whole nine yards. It's 5 AM when I'm writing this. I might wake up and realize this is a terrible idea. I'm writing it anyways. After all, lots of things seemed like bad ideas at the time. One of my favorite series was apparently founded on a couple of bad ideas.

In short, I regret nothing, so let's do this before I come to my senses.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Tremor**

On board the dimensional cruiser Arthra, registered to the Time-Space Administration Bureau, everyone's eyes were glued to the screens that showed the crew why they and the ship had come here.

Beneath them lay a practically apocalyptic scene. Above the wreckage of a small city, a massive monster of shadow appeared to be holding a concert. The... thing twirled endlessly, reaping more destruction as it went. Its top half had more gears than a self-winding watch, while the bottom half seemed a tad like an upside-down figure. Around them, four girls were desperately trying to fight the beast, along with the smaller models of it that appeared to be its mooks. While this crew knew well what a few little girls could do, these unfortunate souls were not as overpowered as Nanoha Takamachi.

Speaking of the soon-to-be-christened White Devil, the little girl was in attendance. "So... Is this the cause?" she asked, watching worriedly as the people darted around like stick figures. A girl in red, fighting with a spear that broke into a chain. A black-haired girl who seemed to pull an endless arsenal out of her shield. A pink-haired girl with a matching bow and arrow, desperately holding off the demon's minions. A blonde whose fancy clothes were frighteningly damaged by the battle, keeping her distance with volleys of what looked like musket fire.

"... It's definitely causing a distortion. However, it might not be the cause of the tremors... though it certainly could be." Admiral Lindy Harlaown answered the auburn-haired girl's question. Beside her, a certain golden-haired part-time mage shared in her friend's concern.

"It doesn't look good for those ones, does it?" Fate murmured, shaking her head. "They're clearly not used to fighting as a team, and their magic seems...inefficient, to an extent."

Lindy nodded slowly. The inhabitants of this world seemed to be far behind the TSAB technologically, about on par with Nanoha's home of Earth, and they didn't appear to have magical industry to speak of. Despite that, these girls were there and giving what seemed like a good account of themselves, if what the sensors indicated about the power of the massive spinning construct were to be believed. Lindy wanted to intervene on their behalf, but...

They were simply investigating and hardly had the authority to get involved. The TSAB had no presence here and hadn't even explored this world before. Only the recent series of regular dimensional quakes had brought the Arthra here to find out what was going on. They had basically gotten here five minutes ago. The two girls should have been asleep, but they had clearly messed with their sleep schedules to be bright and bushy-tailed when they arrived.

Lindy knew that wouldn't stop the two impetuous girls before her from getting involved.

"I know what you're about to say. You want to go down there, right?"

They nodded.

"You know I'm not technically allowed to let you do that, right? We just don't know enough about the situation."

They nodded again, and Fate wrapped her arms tightly around Lindy.

"...Mother, you remember when Nanoha went and helped me against your orders, right? Well..."

Lindy smiled faintly, cutting Fate off. "I see where you're going with this. You should go back to bed, but I'm not ordering you. Don't get into trouble, and if you do, come back immediately. Is that clear?"

"Clear as crystal."

* * *

The golden-haired magical girl seemed to have trouble lifting and aiming the massive cannon she had summoned. The battle against Walpurgisnacht had gone on far too long, and the Witch appeared to be little more than annoyed. She couldn't see anyone else anymore...The occasional rocket told her Homura was still fighting. Kyoko had been under that building when it fell, and Madoka had taken a direct hit from a Familiar... she could only hope the two of them were all right.

This would be her last shot. Deep inside, Mami found herself accepting that she was doomed. She hesitated: she considered dropping the cannon and simply trying to run while she still could. Maybe it would be the better idea.

**"Five."**

A mechanical voice from somewhere in the heavens dissuaded her. She glanced up to see pink lights gathering at a spot she could not see.

**"Four."**

A countdown? Maybe Homura had something else up her sleeve, one last weapon. She was still moving, after all.

**"Three."**

Mami Tomoe sighed and tightened her grip on the oversized musket, lighting the slow-burning fuse and doing her best to hold her aim steady. She didn't know what she was doing anymore, but she was going to fight to the end.

**"Two."**

Just had to hold it steady a little longer. The pink lights danced and weaved as they sped up to a single growing point...

**"One."**

Her eyes were getting heavy... and she realized that she wasn't afraid of death right now. A tiny smile graced her lips.

"**Starlight Breaker,"** the countdown announced. A similar, but deeper voice declared, **"Plasma Smasher."**

She put her last breath into a defiant shout.

"Tiro Finale!"

The cannon boomed as it sent the massive golden projectile racing towards Walpurgisnacht.

A few seconds passed. It seemed like an eternity as she watched her shot come closer and closer... and saw that a pair of massive lights, pink and gold, were descending upon the Witch from above.

Then they struck, and the explosion knocked Mami out instantly. She went out with a smile.

Nanoha and Fate watched from above as the remains of the gear-creature dissolved into darkness and faded away.

[...We beat it.] Nanoha let out an audible sigh of relief.

[Yeah.]

That had been a lot of cartridges for one shot... but then again, between that and the local girl's cannon blast, it had worked. Even so, the two of them were left more exhausted than they'd entered, which was impressive given the affect their mixed-up sleep schedules were having.

Fate shook her head. [We're not done yet,] she thought out to Nanoha. [Search for survivors.]

A nod, and the two dived down to find whoever was left. Nanoha quickly made her way to where the golden-haired girl had collapsed. She'd done them a lot of good, it would be bad if she'd ended up dead...

No. Though she was unconscious, Nanoha felt shallow breathing when she checked her. Good. One down, three to go.

Fate eyed the battlefield, searching for any movement, any sign of life. Near a pile of rubble blown away by the blast their attacks had caused... Wait a minute. A girl in red, crawling towards something unseen with grim determination.

She dropped down to help- _holy hell is that a piece of rebar piercing through her leg?!_

Fate was amazed she didn't faint at the sight. The redhead, on the other hand, stopped moving in short order.

[I need a medevac here, _right now damn it._] Fate's mental voice was loud and panicked, and with good reason. Ten-year-olds were not meant to see such terrors.

It was probably just as well that neither of them got a good look at what was left of the pink-haired girl. They only saw the one with raven hair scream out her tears as she reached for the strange shield on her arm, staring at the eerily pristine face.

[Nanoha, Fate!] Lindy called. [There's another spatial distortion starting up. We're getting out of here right now.]

The two mages didn't have much to say to that, having already discovered that they needed to get to the healers, well, _right now. _They held their charges in a death grip as teleportation circles appeared around them...

[Ready.]

And then they were gone, leaving the black-haired girl behind.

* * *

When that skyscraper fell on her, Kyoko thought she was a goner, despite all the dodging in the world. She didn't have much time to think beyond that. Everything afterward was hazy. She remembered strange, mechanical voices. A massive explosion. Pain, oceans of pain. A stray apple that needed to be eaten.

...that last one seemed out of place. Place, place... wait. A diffuse light above her... white walls and ceiling. That was definitely a place. And she was seeing it.

She had eyes.

She was seeing.

She was...alive?

Her eyes told her she was in something like a hospital, on something like a hospital bed.

They also told her there was a chunk of metal going clean through her lower leg. Well, crap. That... wasn't that much better than dead. Even in her woozy state, she knew she must be under some sort of anesthetic, or else she would have been screaming. Right now, she hurt a little all over, but her leg burned in anger. She grit her teeth and bear it.

She did her best to dull the pain, making the world even hazier, but nonetheless hazarded a guess as to her surroundings. Near her bed was... Mami-san in a similar bed. She'd know those curls anywhere. Even so, she couldn't tell a thing past that.

Staring at her worriedly were a host of doctors and a pair of girls who looked just a tad out of place. A golden-haired, petite girl with flaming eyes like her own, and a brown-haired, blue-eyed girl who somehow reminded her of Cotton Candy even in her fuzzy vision.

"You're awake..." someone said, as if through a small ocean. She was hearing. She had ears. She had no idea who spoke, but she heard them.

"...How long until I start screaming? I...get the feeling I really shouldn't be conscious right now."

"I'd give you ten minutes. Which is when we're starting the surgery, at the very latest."

"...I need a damn pocky," she growled.

"I'll get you one if you tell us your name." Wait, seriously?

"Kyoko. Sakura...Kyoko."

She received her pocky and chomped through it in record time. Then she passed out again.


	2. Kyoko

**Chapter 2: Kyoko**

Some time before Kyoko's awakening...

The shaking finally stopped. The dimensional tremor had passed, and no alarms were blaring. The ship's hull was intact and not leaking air into dimensional space.

"Is everyone okay?" Lindy asked over the intercom, having only just stood up from her hiding place near her captain's chair. Her bridge crew helpfully responded with a synchronized yell of, "We're fine!"

The admiral didn't even try to hide her relief. While the tremor had been intense, they were already heading away from it when it started, and with shields up they suffered no damage. And from the chatter she heard from the loose-lipped staff, nothing broke in the infirmary. That was a relief. The state of that red-haired girl was bad enough to begin with.

While she recovered, she saw her intelligence officer frowning intently. That...probably wasn't a good sign. Knowing Amy, the young lady's first course of action would probably be to try to re-establish the view of the target dimension..

Lindy got her answer when a picture flashed clear onto the screen. It showed... the emptiness of space. Not dimensional space, mind. Interplanetary vacuum.

...Okay, that answered nothing. "What am I looking at?"

"You're looking at where the target planet was before we left," Amy answered, pulling up another picture, this one of a peaceful plain with blue skies and green fields. "And this is the coordinates of the incident on the planet itself."

"Please explain in ways that don't require all of your measurements. How did that return to normal so quickly?"

Amy put her measurements on screen anyways. "The planet's moved backwards in its orbit. Same story for all of the other orbital bodies. Even what we can measure of interstellar movements suggests it. This dimension just rewound itself about a month and a half."

Lindy felt herself shudder. "An entire dimension, huh? Just like that... Why weren't we affected?"

"It would seem that whatever happened is local to the dimension. Since we were in high dimensional space when the distortion hit, we escaped that particular phenomenon."

"Still, to have effects over astronomical distances..." The admiral's brow furrowed, and she didn't look as peaceful as she usually did. She needed some tea.

Amy nodded gravely. "Whatever just happened, it was powerful."

* * *

After everyone recovered from the dimensional tremor and its effects (both on them and on the world below), Admiral Lindy called a conference. Amy was there, along with a somewhat reluctant Fate and Nanoha, who were still understandably worried about the girl who took a stick of rebar to the leg. Chrono was also in attendance, still wearing his Barrier Jacket (as he always did).

They were sitting in the lounge and having tea. Typical Lindy.

Chrono sighed. "You didn't even wake me up for this," he complained. "Yet again, you two went off on your own and did something reckless that could have easily gotten you killed. At least bring some backup!"

Nanoha attempted to defend herself. "There was no time! We barely got out of there as it stands."

"...Well, at least you didn't break anything."

Amy raised her hand. "Um, about that..."

Everyone stopped, if only momentarily. Nanoha and Fate were wondering just how much they could be shocked in one day.

Only Lindy's thing that goes doink broke the silence. Some wondered if that was the real reason the contraption was there to begin with.

"Yes, Amy?" Lindy asked, sipping her tea.

"I've been thinking. What about those two we brought back? We're agreed that this dimension effectively went back in time, aren't we?" Amy's somewhat shaky tone did not reassure anyone, least of all Nanoha and Fate, who were expecting an imminent reprimand.

Chrono just stared. "I don't like where this is going..."

"Since they were outside the distortion's radius, they're still here with us. Either they just managed to get cloned.."

Oh, dear.

"Or they're missing from their world right now."

Oh, _dear._ Nanoha never felt more scared of the gentle mint-haired woman beside her than at this very moment. This was going to be pretty bad, wasn't it?

Fate paled. "How... how much did we mess up?"

"Well, if they're cloned, we're...in luck, as long as our ones don't come down to their world. If they're missing, though... then we messed up just about everything."

...There wasn't a soul in that room who didn't swear in one way or another at that moment. At least most of them kept it in their own minds.

Lindy just sighed and glared at the wall. "I should really, really reprimand you."

Color drained from the faces of a certain pair of reckless little mage girls.

"...but, seeing as you couldn't be expected to factor in _time travel_, I think you escaped liability for this one. Besides, it wouldn't do for them to learn that you were punished for saving their lives."

Some color returned. That said, Nanoha was still quite frightened. Unfortunate implications raced through her mind.

"Are we going to... tell them?"

Lindy shook her head. "I don't think we know enough to tell them. We need to investigate more closely...preferably without breaking the timeline again. Besides, who knows when either of them will wake up?"

* * *

After Kyoko's brief, colorful bout of consciousness, the crew found themselves back at square one. They had returned to the (relative) locale of the target planet, which was busying itself burying them in enigma after enigma. Amy and Chrono were on the case, which led to the pair being huddled over documents and pictures.

"Let's go over what we know so far, just to be safe," Chrono said. The Enforcer wasn't sure he could believe what they 'knew'.

Amy nodded. "Though relatively isolated dimensionally, this world bears a striking resemblance to Non-Administered World #97, or as Nanoha and Fate know it, Earth. There are subtle differences in the geography and what we can tell of the history, but the species, language, culture, and politics are all remarkably similar, although it's slightly more advanced than NW #97 is right now. However, magic seems to be completely unknown to the populace. Although magic power does occasionally exist in individuals, there's no evidence to suggest most of those individuals even realize it. There's no trace of magical technology, widespread or secret or experimental or anything. No Lost Logias or other relics either."

"...In short, a world that just happens to look a lot like another one on the other side of the multiverse, one that doesn't seem to have a magical infrastructure worth noting and yet is capable of producing those girls and/or that gear-monster from earlier. Are we sure those things are local?"

"...The girls seem like natives. The construct, though...anyone's guess as to where that came from. Could be a relic of Ancient Belka or something for all I know. We're not going to find out now, at any rate."

Chrono scowled. He knew exactly why they weren't going to find out now. Unless they were willing to do blind investigation, their only lead was the two girls they had rescued earlier.

* * *

While Amy and Chrono pondered, Lindy was meeting with the ship's chief medical officer, a woman who was, thankfully for Nanoha, definitely _not_ Shamal. Most of the crew just called her Doc.

Lindy was tired, and her tea could only take her so far. She half-hoped that this was important... and half-dreaded that any important news would likely be bad news. Especially if she had to go to Doc's office to hear it.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I did. Please sit down."

The admiral did so, shaking her head and stifling a yawn. "It's been a long night..."

The doc just nodded. "I heard. How's the ship?"

"Still keeping our distance for now, in case there are any aftereffects of the tremor. We've never seen something like this, who knows what it could have caused?" Lindy intertwined her fingers for a moment. "As soon as we're sure it's safe, we'll head back in and take a closer look. We need all the information we can get."

"Probably the best course of action. How long do you think we have?"

"Give it five or six hours. Enough for some of us to catch up on sleep, and if anything else happens, we'll know about it."

A wry smile crossed the Doctor's face.

"What about you? How's it going on your end?"

At that, the smile vanished. "That's what I called you here for. As you might have seen on the way in, we've successfully removed the object – I'm told it was a piece of structural reinforcement- from miss Sakura's leg and begun the process of healing it up as best we can. She's lost a lot of blood, but I think she'll live. Her mystery friend is fine physically, she just seems to have a bad case of mana exhaustion. With any luck, she'll wake up sooner rather than later."

"Judging by the look on your face, it gets worse."

"Maybe not worse, but definitely very odd. I've run nearly every test in the book on these two. Their bodies are just fine. They breathe, their heart beats, their blood carries nutrients, et cetera. But I can't detect any activity in their brains and spines. Their central nervous systems appear totally dead."

Lindy caught on her breath. "That...should be impossible. They'd have to be vegetables...You're sure the equipment is working properly?"

"Triple checked it. It gets better- the outer system seems to be having some activity for both of them. Including, for instance, miss Sakura's foot, well beyond her severed nerves. And in case you didn't hear about her little bout of consciousness, that girl certainly isn't a vegetable."

The admiral stared at the floor. Saints...what the hell was she dealing with here?

"But wait, there's more. I can't find their Linker Cores. At all."

… What.

"We saw the blonde using magic earlier. Quite vividly. And the redhead used a good bit of it too, albeit not as dramatic."

"I heard. It's just as impossible as you said, Lindy. In order to use magic, people have to channel it through _something_. Without a linker core or anything like it, they should be totally unable to produce or control magical power."

She definitely did not like this. She was hoping to get at least a few answers from the two girls, but they'd manage to create more mysteries before they'd even been awake for more than a few minutes combined.

"...Thanks for the information, Doc. I have no idea what I'll do with it, though..."

"We can't do much until they wake up. Sorry."

Thoroughly shaken, Lindy found herself quietly wandering out the door and back into the infirmary. The two girls they had rescued were still in their beds, being monitored constantly. No more consciousness since the pocky incident. Nanoha and Fate were watching them, of course... they'd practically been living in the infirmary lately. After hours of silent watching, they had finally resigned themselves to the reality that this was not going to happen quickly and settled into a long-running game of hanafuda. Anything to keep them from going mad with worry, since they refused to leave the two survivors alone.

"Mm..arlkghshs..."

This vague imitation of a noise from the redhead was barely above a whisper, but to the three women watching, it seemed louder than a thunderclap.

"Is she...coming to?" Nanoha asked as they rushed over to her side, praying that the answer was 'yes'.

If her blazing red eyes were any indication, the answer was indeed yes. She glanced down over herself. Her legs were still visible, but there was no rebar. Instead, something like a cast was covering her lower leg.

"...This is a bit more than a broken bone."

"Cutting-edge medical technology, they say," Lindy commented, as the Doc followed her out. "You can ask the doctor for the details later. I'm guessing you have some questions?"

"No shit, Minty Fresh. What happened when you found me? I see Goldilocks over there, but what happened to Homerun and Cotton Candy? Black hair, pink hair? Did we beat Walpurgisnacht?"

The nickname did not go down well with Lindy. Fortunately, the admiral was a calm woman, though she would soon need even more tea.

Fate answered. "Was this Walpurgisnacht by chance a large, building-sized magical construct, made of spinning gears on top and a vaguely humanoid figure on the bottom?"

"Yup. Damn thing threw a building at me, or fifteen. It's a miracle I got away with only a bit of rebar. Anyways, carry on?"

"We arrived on the scene and managed to take down the b- this Walpurgisnacht with some help from your friend there. Who we still don't know the name of." The meaning of that sentence was obvious enough.

"Her name's Mami Tomoe."

"..right. We rescued you and miss Tomoe from the aftermath, but although we saw your black and pink haired friends, we had to leave before we could take them. And although we didn't get to looking at the latter, judging by the way that raven-haired one screamed...your Cotton Candy probably died sometime in the fight." Fate shuddered. Whatever damage made the girl scream that loud must have been horrific beyond imagination.

"Figured as much. I always thought Homerun had a thing for her." Again, people stared at her to try and get her to stop using nicknames. "...The black-haired one's Homura Akemi. The pink-haired one was Madoka Kaname. So Cotton Candy croaked..."

Kyoko glanced over at Mami again. Her hair was so out of shape, her outfit was so messy... but she didn't seem too physically hurt.

"And Goldilocks hasn't woken up?"

The doctor frowned. "No major injuries, but she hasn't stirred at all."

"Huh. Wait, what about Home...er, Homura? And why'd you have to leave?"

Nanoha frowned. "The... the black-haired g-girl stayed behind. T-there was a b-big spatial distortion... I-it almost caught us even though we ran."

"...Spatial distortion. Don't tell me I'm in a spaceship or something similarly cheesy..."

At that, Lindy simply opened the curtains on a window, revealing galaxies floating by. It was a small measure of revenge.

"...Well that's just _peachy_. And I suppose you're the space cops?"

"Agents of the Time-Space Administration Bureau."

"...Are you time travelers too?"

Nanoha shook her head. "No! I mean.. not that I know of."

"But speaking of time trav-"

"Homura Akemi is indeed a time traveler. That's probably how she got out of there."

Kyoko grinned.

"I think I've answered enough questions. It's time for you to return the favor."

Blatantly stealing pocky from the drawer or not, there was no arguing with the girl who just had a near-death experience on this particular subject.

* * *

Kyoko sat up in the infirmary bed, nibbling an endless supply of pocky sticks 'graciously' provided by Nanoha and Fate. They were the only fuel that could make the flame-haired girl talk for long enough to get things done.

"So you're aliens, huh?" she murmured through the crunch of pretzel.

Fate sighed. "That's...one way to put it."

"I feel like this should excite me or surprise me, but it doesn't."

Nanoha let out a nervous laugh. "You're far from the only one. It's been a year since I got into this whole thing and it still amazes me sometimes."

"...That's the exact opposite of what I said."

The White Devil merely pouted. "Mouuu, Kyoko's being mean to me."

There was no one there who would support her. Well...aside from Fate, who was not exactly an adult or anything.

"No, you're just being a dumbass." Kyoko scowled and bit through another chunk of pocky. The two mages beside her were taken aback by Kyoko's acidic tone, a tone they weren't sure they'd ever get used to.

Eager to change the subject, Fate put in, " Your own world is pretty interesting, too.. Magic by contract? We have the Familiar system on Mid-Childa, but this sounds completely different..."

"Yours seems more... normal. Less anime. I'm jealous."

Nanoha raised an eyebrow at Kyoko's 'jealousy'.

"Er... Please tell me if I understand this correctly, Kyoko-chan. This creature, Kyubey, goes around and makes contracts with teenaged girls. In exchange for one wish, they become... what did you call it?"

"Puella Magi, mahou shoujou, magical girls."

"...they become magical girls and are given a power source called a Soul Gem, like the one you showed us. And then they have to fight Witches?"

Kyoko nodded. "That's the long and short of it. Witches are kind of the inverse of magical girls, apparently. We need their Grief Seeds to recharge our magic. The little marshmallow wasn't too specific about it. Kyubey's a real pain in general. Honestly, the whole thing is more trouble than it's worth."

Nanoha frowned. "But... You said these Witches kill people, right? Doesn't someone have to stop them?"

The redhead looked down at the ground. The little girl reminded her of her own past... a past she didn't really want to remember. Didn't she think like that once, too?

"I don't care about stuff like that. There are only three things I'm interested in: me, myself and I."

"Kyoko-chan... how could you say that?"

"Shut up, and don't call me Kyoko-chan. Just Kyoko is fine."

The pain was starting to edge through her voice. Loneliness and despair came to haunt her... but she pushed them back before the stupid girls could notice.

Nanoha just stared at her, worried and hurt, wondering how someone could think like that. How could anyone say that saving lives was 'more trouble than it's worth'? Little did she know what Kyoko Sakura had been through.

"U-um... K-Ky-"

"Has Goldilocks still not woken up yet? Seriously, girl didn't even get a piece of rebar through the leg. What right does _she_ have to sleep all day?"

Nanoha and Fate had no answer to that. As far as they knew, Mami Tomoe was fine physically, just exhausted of mana. Why hadn't she regained consciousness?

Kyoko scowled at their silence. "Listen, girlies. You want to learn more? I'd recommend chasing down Homura Akemi. Homerun is indeed a time traveler. Supposedly, it's because the first time she contracted, it was after Cotton Candy croaked, and she made her contract to go back and save her. If anyone can tell you what's going on around here, it's Homerun."

Fate frowned. "And... what about you, Kyoko?"

"Eh?"

"What are you going to do once you recover?"

Kyoko glanced over at the sleeping form of Mami Tomoe.

"Don't think I'll be heading back to the Mitakahara area. Things could get confusing. I'll get myself out of your hair after Goldilocks wakes up. I had a good run with that girl once, and I'm too indebted to her to just leave her here."

Nanoha and Fate looked between each other.

[What do we do?] Nanoha asked.

[Ask Mom. Honestly, I don't know.]

* * *

While Nanoha and Fate talked to Kyoko and relayed all the information they could, Lindy found herself with Chrono and Amy again, having an expository discussion over the things they were learning.

"Why do you suppose the group that this Kyubey seeks out is so specific?" Amy murmured, as much to herself as to everyone else.

"I couldn't begin to guess. And the 'contract' thing... It's almost as though being empowered is the _price_ they pay, but that makes no sense..." Lindy was just as confused as everyone else.

"It doesn't sound like Miss Sakura is going to be too cooperative on her own. Can we make her talk?"

Amy shook her head. "I can't say that she has much more to tell us, unfortunately. Unless miss Tomoe wakes up, Homura sounds like our best option for information. Or this Kyubey character, but Kyoko doesn't seem to find him trustworthy."

"So... where does that leave us?"

"With a lot of work to do."

* * *

"Not so fast. There's one thing we're forgetting, girls. Could you find Mami's Soul Gem for me?"

Nanoha and Fate blinked at Kyoko's command. No, not command.. request. Incredibly polite given their past experience with this rude girl. And judging by said redhead's face... this was serious.

They nodded and began to search through her clothes with all the embarrassment of anyone who searches through people's clothes all of a sudden. It took them a while to find it.

The small, brass-cased jewel made Kyoko shudder at the sight. Kyoko's Soul Gem was simply quite cloudy...

Mami's Soul Gem seemed barely short of completely black.


	3. Soul Gems

**Chapter 3: Soul Gems**

"That doesn't look good at all," Fate murmured, shaking with fear.

Kyoko seemed to be reeling from the impact of the sight. "That's the darkest I've ever seen a Soul Gem. Maybe... maybe that's why she hasn't woken up. I'd get her a Grief Seed myself, but..." She glanced at her own Soul Gem, still barely shining its light. "In this state, I'm not sure I could provide for myself, much less her. What to do, what to do..."

"Um, Kyoko-chan?" Nanoha sputtered.

"I told you not to call me that. … What?"

"Sorry. Er... maybe... we could go get some Grief Seeds for you and Mami?"

Kyoko glared. "You've saved my life enough already. I'm not in the mood to get further in debt to you."

"It has nothing to do with that! I... I mean..." Nanoha's eyes filled with conviction. "You don't have to fight alone, you know? You look like... like you deserve some rest, instead of having to do everything yourself. And besides! You can't complain if we help you, right?!"

"... Really. You'll just get yourselves into trouble along with me. How about your- oh right... you don't use Soul Gems..."

"That's right. We may not be immune to running out of magic, but we don't need to battle to gain more. So if we do a lot of fighting, it's okay! Leave it to us and we'll save your friend, Kyoko-chan. I'm sure of it."

Kyoko was at a loss for words. Such resolve was not the empty words of an innocent child. This kid meant business, and she had the experience to back it up. Was she really planning to fight for a punk like her? She was, wasn't she?

"Fine. If you insist on fighting Witches, I'll tell you what I can on the subject. Don't want you to get yourselves killed wasting your time on me."

* * *

While Kyoko taught Nanoha and Fate the ways of Witch hunting, the Arthra's crew examined the pair's Soul Gems. With the red-head's permission, of course.

What they found as they gazed over the data was another surprise.

" Well, we found the Linker Core," Chrono muttered.

The diagrams on screen showed the inner workings of the Soul Gems, or at least what they could gather of them from their brief observation.

Lindy sighed. "So, let me just make sure what I'm seeing here. You're saying that these things are not only where the Linker Cores are, but they're running their consciousnesses on an emulation program? Is that even possible?"

"That's right. Transferring the human consciousness is difficult, but not impossible. To perform that operation on such young girls, though... And it doesn't seem like they're even aware of that reality."

"A troubling development, to be sure. This Kyubey character seems to be turning them into soldiers to fight Witches... but why? Given the specifics of this system, it hardly seems like an action born of desire to protect humanity."

"Why indeed, Chrono. Why indeed...?"

Amy glanced around at Chrono and Lindy. "Er.. I'll need more time to go over the data, but... Both Soul Gems appear to have some transformative programming. What it's changing into, I haven't a guess... It looks like Mami's Gem shut down to stop this process from getting out of control. That would explain why she hasn't awakened."

Lindy stared. This had been suspicious from the start, but at this point... it seemed as though the creature known as Kyubey had serious ulterior motives.

"Looks like we've got our work cut out for us, then. Nanoha and Fate will be tasked with finding Grief Seeds to repair the Soul Gems of miss Sakura and miss Tomoe."

[Okay!]

[Yes ma'am.]

"Chrono, I want you to investigate the creature known as Kyuubey. Start by asking Kyoko about it when Nanoha and Fate are done. I'll give you our ground squadron as back-up, should you need it."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"And Amy, if you don't mind, I have a special task for you."

"Yes, Admiral?"

* * *

Kyoko stared at Chrono for a moment, then laughed.

"Finding Kyubey? You'd have better luck finding a needle in a haystack. The marshmallow doesn't even appear to those who aren't contracted or potential contracts. And since you're a male, magic-user or not, you have no chance of seeing him."

"Miss Kyoko, it needs to be done. Whether you think it is possible is irrelevant." Chrono did not have time for this shit. "Just tell me everything. Sketch him, describe his behavior, where he might be located."

"Grr... fine. He's a little white cat-critter, about this tall and this long..."

* * *

Nanoha and Fate were relaxing in their rooms after Kyoko had drilled them on the basics of finding and fighting Witches. Of course, they were still talking to each other via their Devices, doing a visual Skype-style call instead of simply using telepathy.

"So, where do you suppose we should go? Kyoko suggested to stay out of her home region, since there are a decent amount of magical girls already there and we'd run into trouble with them..." Nanoha asked.

Fate shrugged. "But we shouldn't stray too far, either, so that we can keep in touch with Chrono more easily while he's doing his investigation."

"Yeah... On the map, there's a region right north of us. Wonder if they speak Russian?"

"It looks like they have some significant urban centers too. Thinking of making that area our target?"

"Mm, yeah. "Nanoha giggled a bit. "We'd better pack our warm clothes~"


	4. Missions

**Chapter 4: Missions**

Thank the Saints for translation programs.

True, the ability to turn their Barrier Jackets into the heavy coats and layers of clothes that they wore now as a disguise was pretty important as well. However, no disguise was complete without acting, and Nanoha and Fate were already terrible enough actors. Being unable to speak a word of the local language did not help.

So thank the Saints for translation programs. Not to mention the snowfall that made everyone more interested in staying somewhere warm than questioning what they were doing outside. To be fair, they probably wouldn't have been questioned to begin with, but the pair of mages didn't quite realize that.

[Man.. It'd be impossible to see a thing out here without Raising Heart.] Nanoha had to use her Device to let her have any vision worth noting. [Are you sure we can find Witches like this?]

[It'll be fine, Nanoha. The main sign of a Witch is their barrier, right? The snowfall won't hide them from us.]

[Are you sure? Really really sure? We don't know what we're getting into. All we have is second-hand from Kyoko...]

Fate shook her head. [It'll be fine. Has it ever not been fine?]

[...Alright.]

The pair ducked into an alley to survey their options.

[Raising Heart, have you found anything?]

**[Not yet, my master.]**

Nanoha glanced down at the shining orb of Raising Heart hidden on her neck. The little Device had been her companion since she had entered the world of magic and space, even before she met Fate. By this point, Nanoha trusted it with her life.

...Her deep thoughts were interrupted by a pair of growling stomachs. She stared down more intently than before, cheeks turning bright red.

"...Those are ours, aren't they?"

"E-er...I think so.." Fate stammered.

"We should... p-probably eat."

The girls stumbled their way into the nearest cafe. Luckily, Lindy had given them some local currency for just this sort of situation. (Or bribery, but she hadn't mentioned that.) They locked out the blizzard behind them, and were happily met with very little fanfare.

A little bit of toast was enough for them. Again, thank the Saints for translation programs. They moved to sit down...

[Alright, so do you think we should-]

**[Barrier Detected, my master. Description matches target. Velocity 5 kilometers per hour and accelerating. Location: Vladivostok Main Station.]**

Nanoha nearly dropped her toast. That could only mean one thing. The Witch had arrived.

The two paid for their food so fast that they got a few confused "Hey!"'s out of the crowd as they rushed out the door, toast rapidly being stuffed into their mouths.

Rapidly ducking into an alley, the two mages pulled their Devices. Nanoha grabbed Raising Heart from her neck and held it high, while Fate moved her hand to an innocent-looking piece of jewelry on her glove.

[Raising Heart!]

"**Stand by, ready."**

[Bardiche.]

"**Get Set."**

They finally finished devouring the toast. Enough to speak, at least.

"SET UP!"

A blinding flash of yellow and pink light enveloped the alley, and then two streaks of those colors shot out and into the sky, too fast for the humans below to understand. Those that saw chalked it up to idiots with fireworks.

* * *

The two mages rushed through the air, dodging buildings and banners and the sight of radars as they went. Nanoha, a pink streak in her white uniform that had once been modeled on her elementary school clothes but had since gotten enough upgrades to look quite unique in itself. Her weapon, a pink staff that would have looked terribly cutesy if it wasn't for the assault rifle clip attached to one side. Fate, a yellow comet in a form-fitting black outfit, holding a black scythe with a yellow blade of energy.

**[Target continuing to accelerate. Estimated time of arrival 5 minutes at current acceleration. ]**

At least it had left the city. The collateral damage of their first battle with a Witch could be kept to a minimum.

[Raising Heart, please keep us on course. ]

**[Alright, my master.]**

[ Fate, are you ready?]

A nod. [Yes. Bardiche?]

**[Yes sir.]**

The streaks of light sped up. This was no time to be slow. If they took too long, the Witch would surely devour the people in there. Nanoha didn't know what being killed by a Witch was like. She didn't want anyone to have to find out.

It seemed like an agonizingly long time before the train came into sight. There it was! Steaming along through the snowfall, its interior lights shining into whiteout. Nanoha and Fate were again grateful for the unusual amount of snow- they'd have been spotted in a heartbeat without it. But this part of the train was just fine... where was the Witch? They rolled off and moved forward on each side to look.

[Where's the barrier?]

**[Distance approximately 100 meters.]**

There. One passenger car that had no lights on, no view through its windows at all. It felt dark as much as it looked, despite their Device-amplified vision. It felt... wrong. Magic was all over the thing. No doubt about it- this car was the Witch's barrier.

"Let's go."

**"Yes sir."**

The pair of witches rushed through the wind and onto the deck of the car. They opened the door of the interior and hastily moved inside.

The door slammed shut behind them. Of course they would make a mistake so simple.

Inside... there was barely any evidence that this used to be the interior of a train car. The world was strange. Not physical, but... imagined. Made of pastels and crayons here, unnaturally sleek lines and futuristic lights there. The world seemed to be a massive recording studio. The former passengers were barely recognizable, unconscious and strapped into headphones. An enormous radio tower in the distance broadcasted music and words... music and words that they could _see_ coming towards them.

"Wha... Is t-this a W-witch's barrier?!"

"No time for rhetorical questions, Nanoha! Look out!"

**"Protection."**

Raising Heart created a glowing field of defense just in time for an animated wave of sound to crash into it. The explosion rocked the strange world within the train car, and it felt as though a thousand eyes turned towards them. But most of all, a single pair of pixelated visors, a young animated girl with a creepy smile and a set of distinctive headphones, her microphone wired directly to the radio tower.

Moments later, the songs started screaming for their blood, and the air was flooded with the heaviest music Nanoha and Fate had ever heard. And there was a downpour of those animated sound waves, coming from every direction towards them with killing intent. Both girls gripped their Devices tightly as they prepared for the inevitable.

"**Sonic Move." **

Fate vanished in a flash, appearing in another flash far above the waves of sound that were pursuing Nanoha. Nanoha stood motionless for a moment...

**"Axel Shooter."**

And then a battalion of small pink energy orbs appeared around Nanoha. The White Devil didn't need to say anything as she sent them racing out in all directions. They met the oncoming attacks in a burst of shrieking and noise, and when the dust settled, Nanoha was flying out of there.

Fate tightened her grip on the handle of Bardiche. "I'll engage the Witch up close! Just hit it once it's injured enough!"

"Alright! I'm counting on you, Fate!"

The two flew off in opposite directions, their minds racing with the reality of the Witch's barrier. To be honest, they hardly understood what was at work here. What they did understand was that they needed to defeat this opponent, both to rescue the people trapped inside and to get Grief Seeds for Kyoko and Mami. Confused or not, they had to fight.

Fate rushed in towards the strange pixelated girl. From all the mage could tell, that cute sprite with the microphone was the Witch. It seemed to be a ranged type, judging from all the soundwaves attacking Nanoha, so maybe it would be easier to take on up close? She swung her blade towards the apparently unaware Witch..

No such luck. It met Bardiche with a twisted mockery of a directional microphone, the blade quickly growing as the screaming Witch swung back for the counter attack. Even with Fate's speed and reflex, she found her Barrier Jacket had been nicked by the eldritch weapon. Not that it stopped her from continuing to fight.

While Fate engaged the Witch in melee, Nanoha had a situation of her own. More specifically, she had a situation consisting of hundreds of mutated speakers hopping after her, spraying those exploding audio waves and music notes at her.

"Axel Shoot!"

A barrage of pink beams lanced out and annihilated every monster they hit. But more kept coming, not to mention she was still drowning in their attacks, flying upwards to try and get some distance.

Nope. More of them appeared out of the ceiling, forcing her to dart off in another direction. Then her next exit was blocked, and then her next. They were hemming her in.

"Divine Buster!"

A pink friendship doombeam smashed its way through the creatures, and behind it, Nanoha raced out before the net could close around her again. She'd had enough of being surrounded for one battle. It didn't appear that destroying these minions would do her any good. She needed to destroy the Witch itself if she wanted to win the fight.

Fate was still facing that microphone, and still holding her own. Both her and the Witch had landed several hits on each other. Her Barrier Jacket was ripped and torn in several places, while the Witch seemed to bleed sound from its cuts and scrapes. Still they dueled on. The sword came in high. Fate parried it and went in for a vertical strike. The Witch bent itself out of the air that Fate sliced and thrust at her heart. Fate dodged to the side and spun to cut the sprite's waist in two. And so on in a seemingly endless nightmare waltz of blades and destruction, a dance from which both refused to back down.

"Fate!" Nanoha shouted. The mage girl backflipped away to avoid a particularly brutal slash, eyes flicking at Nanoha as she sped off into the air and got some distance from the blade-wielding Witch.

"I think I can take it out! Just keep the minions off my back for a little, that's all I need!"

Fate nodded. Nanoha was going to do _that_. Of course she was. This was Nanoha. How else would she handle anything?

As Fate sped off to engage the speaker-beasts, the Witch turned to follow her, laughing maniacally. It shut up when its steps suddenly stopped. Pink rings had formed around it, courtesy of the walking mecha girl in the air above her who had her staff leveled right at it. Magical energy started to swell up at the tip of that staff.

"Divine..." She drew the word out as her shot prepared itself...

"Buster!"

The laser beam of light enveloped the Witch. There was only so much a monster could withstand against the power of Nanoha Takamachi. It screamed, sang its last words of hatred as it began to dissolve, before flowing away and vanishing entirely while the barrier collapsed around it.

Without the barrier, Nanoha and Fate suddenly found themselves in the real train compartment, not nearly as large as the world they had just battled in. The lights were still off, but they could see.. everyone was passed out at their seats. No weird headphones here. They had survived. Good.

Or so Nanoha thought. Fate, meanwhile, was staring at the middle of the shaking compartment. A black shape that matched the description Kyoko had given them. A Grief Seed. She moved and crouched down to pick it up off the floor.

But while she stood up, she noticed something strange. Alone in one of the seats was a young girl with a pair of huge headphones clapped on her ears. Wait... headphones?!

"N-...n..nanoha..."

"Yes, Fate?" Nanoha asked, not seeing what had her so stunned.

"I found the Grief Seed, but... this girl. Doesn't she look like..."

Nanoha stared and nodded, silent. Fate didn't have to finish. She looked exactly like the pixelated monster that they had just destroyed. Nanoha placed her hand on that chest...

No breathing. No heartbeat.

"...She's dead."

Did that mean...

Had they just _killed _her?

When she processed that thought, Nanoha fainted.

"Nanoha? Nanoha?! NANOHA!"

* * *

Meanwhile, a small sea away, Chrono Harlaown was getting impatient. The redhead said he'd never find Kyubey. That the creature was sneaky and a trickster. That the marshmallow could easily evade whatever _they_ could come up with. When Chrono insisted otherwise, Kyoko asked to come along for the ride to see what he was doing.

Kyoko Sakura hadn't imagined that they could do magic like this. Her pocky nearly fell out of her mouth when she had first seen the agents casting the combined Wide Area Search spell. She had been impressed.

Ten minutes later, they had only managed to confirm Kyubey being present in Japan. Oh, and not being in the middle of the ocean.

This did not please anyone. Even Kyoko was getting bored, sitting in her wheelchair and nibbling an apple. She would have wanted it to fail if she hadn't accidentally forced herself to sit here for as long as it wasn't working.

She wondered how those idiots, Nanoha and Fate were doing.

* * *

Meanwhile, not nearly so far away, Amy Limietta was undercover. The brown-haired, brown-eyed officer had been tasked with what sounded like a simple mission.

Locate Homura Akemi. Contact her and ask for information on the situation. Don't get involved in any trouble.

Simple.

Except that Homura Akemi was a phantom who barely existed at all. Even so much as locating her place of residence had taken her at least three different wild goose chases to figure out. And then the neighbors helpfully informed her that she almost never returned to it until well after any sane person would have gone to bed.

It was after school time, so she couldn't look for Homura there. And since the TSAB didn't yet know how to reliably trace Witches and Familiars, she couldn't try and find the magical girl where she battled.

From what Kyoko said, her next idea was to look for Madoka Kaname. She found the girl in a park not too far from school, rushing over to the bench where the schoolgirl stayed.

"Oh! Excuse me, but would you happen to be Madoka Kaname?"

The surprised, fluffy-haired girl nodded. "Um... Yes. Why, what's wrong? Y-you look worried..."

"I'm looking for Homura Akemi. I'm...told she's a friend of yours, so I was hoping you could..."

Madoka hung her head. "I'm sorry, but I have no idea where she is right now..."

"Oh...well, thanks anyways, young lady."

Madoka didn't see much of Amy after that. She scratched her head and wondered what that was all about.

* * *

Amy's long-winded search finally gave her a few clues and took her to the rail yards of Mitakahara. The industrial complex a few miles away was serviced by the trains that stayed here. They weren't passenger lines like the ones that crisscrossed the city. In spite of that, this was where her investigation had taken her.

She wasn't disappointed. On a graffiti-laden railway car, she saw a stern girl with brilliant black hair, silhouetted against the moon.

"Homura Akemi?"

The girl turned towards Amy silently, violet eyes glowing with intelligence.

"I'd just like to ask a few questions..."

No response, but she didn't seem outright hostile. Amy took it as a sign to continue.

"You're a magical girl, right?"

A nod. Then a glance to the side, and then she spoke for the first time.

"Someone's coming. Make it quick."

Thinking fast, Amy asked the most relevant question she could. "We have a magic girl friend. She seems to be in a coma, and her Soul Gem is completely black. Do you know how to-"

"Kill her."

...Amy had no response to that sudden statement.

"Wake her or disturb her, and she'll become a Witch. There is no saving her at this point. There never was to begin with. The fate of all magical girls who don't die outright is the same. They become Witches. Kill her before that happens."

The wind blew, and Homura Akemi vanished into thin air. There one moment, and gone the next.

With a panic that she had not felt in years, Amy called up the Arthra and teleported back immediately.

A few minutes later, Kyubey hopped into the empty railyard and wondered what all the fuss had been about. Oh well.


	5. Despair

**Chapter 5: Despair**

The moment Amy returned, the Arthra went into high alert. Sirens blared, red lights flashed, and the crew was scrambled up for yet another emergency. Lindy was really beginning to run on fumes here.

Into this half-crazed atmosphere entered Nanoha and Fate, the latter shellshocked and the former still out cold. Fate's eyes seemed to be staring off into the distance.

"F-fate! Wh-what's w-w-w-with Nano-"

"She's just unconscious," Fate muttered coldly. The sadness in her eyes was a lot like the sadness when she had first been taken by the TSAB. The thousand-yard stare reigned supreme. "What's going on?"

Chrono, Kyoko and the team teleported in afterward and were met with only slightly less alarm. In fact, Kyoko even lost her apple in the confusion.

"Saints, what is going on?!"

"Goddamn it, did that stupid girl already get herself killed?"

Lindy entered the room, her eyes dark and sagging. "Miss Tomoe has been quarantined successfully...so we need to talk. Now."

Fate nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Chrono shook his head, scowling. "What trouble are we in this time?"

Kyoko just frowned. "...Mami? I don't like the sound of that..."

* * *

Kyoko had painstakingly grabbed another apple and taken a bite into it by the time they reached the meeting room.

When Amy spoke, the apple hit the floor. Kyoko thought she saw stars for a moment, and that she was going to go down with the apple. Her mouth and eyes twitched, and all color drained from her face. It took her a good ten seconds to work up a response.

She was the quickest person in the room.

"Homura said WHAT?!"

Amy's voice was quiet. Stern. Horrified.

"She said that if we disturb Mami, she'll turn into a Witch. And that it's what normally happens to magical girls, if they don't die first."

Fate blinked. After reassuring the crew that Nanoha was alive, she had not spoken once since she arrived here.

"...That girl. After we defeated the Witch, we found a girl who looked a lot like her. Dead. The only person dead, in fact. At the time, we..."

Tears ran down her eyes.

"We thought we..."

She didn't dare finish her statement, and Nanoha stirred as if by the force of everyone staring through Fate.

"Faaate...what... where am I? What...happened? Why's everything... r-red.?"

And then Amy enveloped Nanoha and Fate in a frenzied glomp of distress. With that, all hell broke loose anew. It took another five minutes before the meeting room could be brought to order.

After that, the next few minutes were a blur. Nanoha and Fate related their combat of the Witch between bouts of crying and hugging each other. Amy repeated what Homura had said after she had finally found that elusive girl... And Lindy took the opportunity to inform Kyoko about the true nature of the Soul Gem. And the state of Mami Tomoe...

"Miss Tomoe has been safely quarantined and remains under observation. We have yet to see any change in her status. It doesn't seem like there's any imminent danger, but..."

Kyoko was frantically biting through apples at a feverish pace. She knew life wasn't all peachy and roses, but THIS was the reality behind it all? This was goddamn terrible! If they simply ended up turning into the very thing they supposedly fought... was there even a point to that?! What the hell did Mami do to deserve that?

"..we may have to kill miss Tomoe."

Kyoko slammed her fist into the table, tears streaming down her face as she stood up, despite the pain from her leg.

"What did she do?! She did her goddamn best, and we reward her by euthanizing her? This isn't right or fair or even humane! I've know her for years and she deserves better than a mercy kill! Goddamn it, there has to be another way! Are you just going to off her on the word of that idiot Homerun?! How do you even know she's telling the truth?!"

Then the fact that there was a hole in her leg caught up to her, and she collapsed back into her wheelchair. "Damn it..." She knew Homura was probably telling the truth. Unfortunately. She wanted to deny it so much.

"I agree with everything you've said, but if the brass hear about this, they'd order her dead in a heartbeat!" Lindy's response came out as more of a roar than a sentence. "Even if we _can_ save her, we have no idea how. It would take time. Time we don't have!"

Nanoha and Fate huddled together against the frightening voice of their admiral. Amy seemed to shrink into her chair, and even Chrono was shaking. Despair gripped the room like a vise, crushing its occupants slowly, but surely...

"...even so, we need to try," Lindy said, as much to herself as to anyone else. "The readings said we have at least a few days before all hell breaks loose at this rate. We... We have to use that time and... pray for a miracle."

Kyoko stared down, her face hardening. "I'll help however I can, Admiral." It was the first time she had called Lindy by her title.

"Thank you, miss Sakura. Unfortunately... I don't think I'll be of much help right now. I'm only staying awake on adrenaline right now anyways. I... need some sleep..."

And with that, Lindy collapsed into the table. Her crew rushed to aid her- those who weren't exhausted themselves, anyways. The remaining officers rapidly agreed that more or less each and every one of them needed to get as much rest as they could right now. They agreed to meet back up in the morning.

Nanoha and Fate soon learned that sleep was difficult right now.

"Nanoha?"

"Yes, Fate?"

"Do you think...do you think we can save her? I mean...I couldn't save mother..." Fate's eyes began to cloud over with tears yet again as she remembered the darker times of her past.

"...Precia Testarossa might have been beyond redemption..." Nanoha looked down and sighed quite loudly. "But Mami Tomoe seems to be a wonderful person who Kyoko-chan respects. She... deserves better. Kyoko is right. She deserves better."

Fate stared at Nanoha. "I know..."

"For a while, I've believed that the universe is just... That most people, at least, most people involved with us, end up with their just reward for whatever kind of person they are. If that's true, then... Mami-san can't die. Not like this. We'll make sure of it. Even if there's no such thing as karma or fate, we'll make sure that Mami-san lives through this. Somehow, some way."


	6. Experiment

**Chapter 6: Experiment**

The crew of the Arthra did not sleep well that night. Their dreams were full of anxiety, fear, and despair. Despite that, however, it was still sleep, and sleep was what they needed.

They woke up the next morning full of determination. You could see it in their eyes. Nanoha, Fate, Kyoko, Amy, Chrono, Lindy. They had all decided upon one thing, one event that would come to pass.

Come hell or high water, Mami Tomoe was going to live.

Never mind that they had no idea how that was going to happen. Never mind that Homura had said there was no way. Never mind that Nanoha and Fate had witnessed what would happen to Mami if they messed up.

There was no turning back.

* * *

At first, there wasn't much going forwards, either. Everyone wanted to do something, to help however they could. They did little chores, pored through materials and readings, fetched supplies.

However, the first and most important task in the quest to save Mami Tomoe was gathering information. It was Amy's job to run over the readings from the Soul Gems of Kyoko and Mami, to get the numbers crunched and to find some way that they could access them. Mami's Soul Gem was too volatile to risk examining in greater detail, so all they had to go on for now were the datafiles from earlier observations, which could themselves fill volumes.

Thus Amy sat, leaned forward over a battery of charts and displays. Checking readouts against other readouts. Running shifts on the time axis to see if causes and effects could be traced along time. Searching through miles upon miles of code, looking for something, anything that could be of use.

Wait, that was funny... The data on the nervous signals around Kyoko's foot, the one that had been cut off from the central nervous system in the first place. It was still alive and well, as though nothing had happened. It was like the signals went straight from the Soul Gem to the muscle, from the surface nerves to the Soul Gem.

"Amy, want some coffee?" Nanoha called.

"Yes, please. I might have made a breakthrough here. It's not much, but... it might be the beginning of a way to repair the Soul Gem."

Nanoha soon found herself a transfixed observer of a drama she did not understand, in spite of Amy explaining the basics of it. The complexities of Amy's work started to grow rapidly along with her audience. The Soul Gem ran a consciousness internally, but it could receive signals from the outside. That meant it could be modified through careful usage of those sensory nerves. Normally, it wouldn't be possible, but with the right electrical stimulus, they could force open a connection and obtain access to the Soul Gem's inner workings. Once they had that, they could effectively force-delete the sub-programs that allowed it to turn into a Witch.

There was one massive catch, however, even if everything went perfectly.

Someone had to be wired up to Mami's body.

"Someone with an active and healthy nervous system has to be used to send input to the Soul Gem. And it is going to hurt. Once the connection is established, we don't know what could happen to your mind. When we break the connection, you _should_ go back to normal, but... "

"I'll do it."

"Nanoha!"

Her eyes gleamed with grim resolve. "I'll do it. I'm as good as anyone else, right?"

"That might be true, but..."

"Besides, I'm a strong girl. You all know that."

Lindy nodded. "You won't have Raising Heart for whatever happens. If it threatens you somehow, you'll be completely on your own. We might not be able to do anything from out here."

Nanoha smiled. "I'm sure you'll save me if there's trouble, and I'll come back just fine! Okay, Raising Heart?"

**"Alright, my master."**

Kyoko chuckled. "You know, those trinkets of yours have quite the personality." She grinned and clapped the younger girl on the shoulder, much to her dismay. "I'm counting on you, then. You too, Amy."

The officer nodded. "Right. I'll do everything I can."

"Let's get a move on. We still have a long way to go before we can call ourselves done."

* * *

"Remember, this is not going to hurt a little. This is going to hurt _a lot_. Are you sure you're ready, Nanoha Takamachi?"

Doc stood by and watched Nanoha as she was strapped in to the somewhat jury-rigged chair that was next to the body of Mami Tomoe, who was being similarly wired up. Despite what she knew was coming, however, Nanoha still smiled faintly.

"It's okay. If it's for someone's life, I'll take it without complaint."

The Doctor returned the smile. "Good. If everyone else is ready, then..."

The swarm of concerned crew and med-techs moved away from Nanoha, retreating behind a screen of what the TSAB would use in place of bulletproof glass. Amy sat at her terminal, but at her fingertips was the fate of Mami. Kyoko was still in her wheelchair, but the way she nibbled her apple seemed to show her anxiety. Fate just stood there, worried for her best friend and for everyone else. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife, as they say.

A mana-electric generator hummed to life in the background to provide the power that would shortly be pulsing through the two magic girls.

Lindy stood back and took control of it all.

"Power supply nominal, ma'am! Charge is sufficient for 1 minute of full current!"

"I've input the procedure to open the connection, ma'am. Can't do more until we get inside the Soul Gem."

"Good. If everyone is ready... begin the experiment."

"Roger."

And then Nanoha felt unimaginable pain. She screamed in agony, as anyone would have done.

"**Reducing**** noise, my master."**

Nanoha had asked Raising Heart to keep her from being too loud, and the Device was all too willing to oblige. It didn't stop Fate from wanting to throw up right now. Her stomach churned, and she tried to pretend it wasn't happening.

"Procedure completing in five seconds!"

Her screams vanished a moment later.

"Connection established."

And then Amy had Mami Tomoe's mind and soul displayed before her.

* * *

Nanoha found herself staring into a harsh bright sun. Her ears told her she was lying down... Her body told her she was hurting, hurting a lot. Hurting everywhere.

After a moment, she realized that she was staring upwards through the shattered remains of a car window. Out of the corner of her eye, a strange white cat swished its tail.

"Would you like to make a contract with me?"

"Please...save me..."

As Nanoha felt herself say those words in a voice that was not her own, she realized just what was happening. She was experiencing the memories of Mami Tomoe. Was this how she contracted? Mortally wounded in a car accident... with only Kyubey to offer her a chance at life.

And then the memory stopped, and the world was black. Or was it white? Nanoha didn't know. In a featureless world, there was no such thing as color. It could have been pink and it wouldn't have made a difference.

* * *

Seeing the entirety of a consciousness, even a sleeping one, displayed in code was daunting, to say the least. There were entire programs being deleted and rewritten as they looked on.

"That... how on earth are we going to find anything in that?" Chrono muttered.

As the only person who understood it, Amy was the one least put off by it. Still scary, but her eyes hardened as she stared towards the screen, possibly because of the strain she was getting from darting back and forth between all the strings flowing across it.

"We're going to try."

* * *

Nanoha was again in a white void. This time, she knew it was a white void, because she could see herself. Furthermore, the void was not empty.

Not so far away, there sat a blonde girl with a set of regal curls in her hair and a school uniform she had seen recently. The girl cried into her hands as Nanoha looked on, her form seeming to grow darker and grimier by the moment.

Mami Tomoe.

Surrounding her were movies and images... pictures of her past. As Nanoha stood transfixed, she came to understand her pain. That car crash had killed her family... she regretted not wishing for their lives as well. No family... and few friends. A girl who spent her life searching for someone to talk to, someone who could understand her. Without any magical girl companions for most of her life, she had been utterly alone, aside from the rather questionable companionship of Kyubey.

Loneliness. Nanoha knew people who had been lonely before. Fate had been like that, and had pressed on, rushing towards further loneliness, for she had nowhere else to go before Nanoha saved her. If it were something so small as this, she could save this girl, too.

Nanoha stepped towards her...

* * *

Mami stared at her past as it surrounded her. Taunted her. Spit in her face at the eve of her death.

Her hands shook, and her clothes were quickly being ruined by the sheer quantity of tears pouring down her face. Though she didn't know it, her body was being consumed by darkness too. No one would save her... stupid world. The world didn't care about her at all. She should get some revenge.

"I'm so... alone... All I wanted was for someone to understand... someone to know me, talk to me, help me... Guess that was... too much to ask, huh?"

She found herself smiling a tiny, ironic smile. Above her, the loneliness poured out of her memories, pulling together into a black shape full of malice. It descended upon her, opened its jaws...

And was blasted away by a beam of pink light.

"Get away from her!" she heard someone shout. Her imminent demise interrupted, Mami found herself stumbling to her feet. The worst of the blackness faded from her as she watched a scene so unreal she thought it might be a dream.

An angel was fighting her loneliness. No.. not an angel. A little brunette girl in a white uniform. All on her own, the girl was sending barrages of crimson energy towards the darkness, and holding it off.

"Don't give up hope, Mami-san!"

"Eh?"

The girl's resolve had a strength she had only seen in Homura's eyes before. Unlike Homura, however, this girl was full of warmth.

"You're not alone! There are people who care about you! Kyoko, Homura, Madoka... even me! My name's Nanoha Takamachi! Anyway, you only lose if you accept defeat! Don't give in to despair!"

* * *

"The Witch program is beginning to execute! I'm trying to stop it, but it's regenerating as quickly as I can delete it!"

"I hope Nanoha's okay..."

* * *

Tears dripped down Mami Tomoe's face again. Yet this time, it was for a very different reason.

Here she was, being protected by a complete stranger. An angelic stranger who was cheering her on, who was literally fighting her fears for her. Someone who cared about her, who wanted her to live. Someone who had more strength than she ever had. She fought without a Soul Gem or anything, yet somehow she held her own in her normal form, beating the darkness back time after time.

Moments felt like years as Mami stood by. For the first time in her life, Mami felt not loneliness, but weakness. She wanted to help, but... She had used every last ounce of power in that Tiro Finale earlier... She couldn't even manipulate a ribbon right now.

Nanoha panted as she darted around, sending off Axel Shooters left and right. The emptiness screeched and moaned, trying to press back towards its target, but against the White Devil it made no headway.

Or so it seemed at first glance. In reality, Nanoha was rapidly exhausting herself. Without Raising Heart, she couldn't perform nearly as much magic. And no matter how many basic, weak shots she fired off, this monster refused to remain down. Slowly, it started gaining ground. Pushing her back, and then back further. She did her best to slow it down, but it didn't matter. Eventually, she was back to back with Mami Tomoe, whose fear was returning.. but although Nanoha didn't know it, the girl had decided that she would give it her all.

Panicking, she cried out.

"Raising Heart!"

And instantly felt foolish. Raising Heart wasn't here. It wasn't going to save her, or Mami. The monster was closing in, and Nanoha couldn't aim a shot properly. Moments felt like hours, while her death approached. It seemed so sluggish...but so was her body, she had a front-row seat to her demise...

"**Stand by, ready."**

* * *

A magic circle had surrounded both Nanoha and Mami in the real world.

"What's going on?!"

"Raising Heart is interfacing directly with the Soul Gem! It's pouring magic into there!"

"Is that safe?!"

"No time for questions! We're about to find out!"

* * *

"**Protection."**

The monster met a shield of pink light and rebounded, staggering backwards. Behind that force field, Nanoha and Mami stood together, stunned, as the small red jewel floated around the former's neck.

"Raising Heart.. how'd you get in here?" Nanoha murmured, awestruck to the core.

**"It can be done, my master. Commencing energy transfer..."**

Energy flowed into the both of them, bringing a lightness to their bodies that neither one had felt recently.

"T...thank you!"

"**Energy transfer has been finalized."**

While they hid, the monster recovered. The darkness stood back up and looked around. It saw the two girls, only protected by a damaged shield.

With a roar, it charged again. But as it charged, Mami smiled, grabbing her Soul Gem, now shining with energy.

"I'm afraid I haven't had the chance to properly introduce myself," she said, grinning as she felt the energy flow through her once more. Nanoha gazed upon her, yet again awestruck as without another word, the girl flashed with yellow light, her outfit changing from the tattered school uniform into a beautiful Renaissance-inspired costume. Mami pulled off her hat and swept it along in front of her... and summoned an array of muskets in front of her, all beautifully decorated weapons and each and every one a masterpiece.

"Eh?" Nanoha asked, having forgotten to Set Up at the moment. Gone was the tattered, lonely wreck she had seen when she arrived. In its place was someone who seemed to scream 'cool' from every strand of their clothing and every fiber of their body.

"I'm Mami Tomoe. Thank you very much, Nanoha-san, but I'll be doing my best to repay the favor now."

The shield vanished, and Mami grabbed a musket and opened fire.

* * *

"It's... I think I'm making some progress! Just hang on tight, everyone! We can win this!"

Kyoko swore under her breath. Never had she felt so helpless before. She wanted to do something... anything...

She put her feelings into a wordless shout.

* * *

Nanoha watched as Mami grabbed one musket. Fired it, sending the beast backwards a bit. Threw it away and grabbed another. Fired it, pushing the monster back further. Threw that one too.

She quickly realized that this girl fought a lot like her. And she could fight, too.

"Raising Heart! Set up!"

**"Alright, my master."**

Summoning her staff and Barrier Jacket, Nanoha hovered above Mami's head. "Mami-san, are you alright down there?"

"I'm fine! It doesn't look like this thing has any familiars. Must be a reference to me not having friends or something. Regardless, if we can bind this up we should be able to take it out at our leisure."

Nanoha grinned. "Two things I'm good at! Leave it to me!"

"Don't steal all the credit."

The beast was pushed all the way back into one of the screens, a memory of Mami's happy childhood. She smiled as her spent bullets exploded... turning into ribbons which lashed onto the beast, making it shake and scream as it tried to escape. For a moment, it looked like it would succeed. Then, pink rings clamped down tightly upon it, cementing the duo's hold upon the beast.

Mami summoned a massive cannon that Nanoha found rather familiar. She winked and lit the fuse upon it, while Nanoha Takamachi leveled her staff at the beast and gathered energy.

"Tiro Finale!"

**"Divine Buster."**

Suffice to say, the monster ceased to exist.

* * *

Nanoha came to her senses later. She felt sore.. from the wires that had been in her. This was her real body. She wasn't quite sure what had happened after she blasted the monster... but she got out of it, whatever the end result was. Had she saved Mami?

She was laid on something soft, with her face stuffed between two big pillows. "Eh?"

A strange, familiar voice answered. "Welcome back, Nanoha."

Now where had she heard that before...

She looked up and into the face of Mami Tomoe.

Oh.

Wait, but that meant...

She looked back down.

"Eh?"

And realized her head had been nestled securely in the older girl's cleavage.

"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!"


	7. Aftermath, Part 1 END

**Chapter 7: Aftermath**

"Kyoko-san, your leg..."

"Is completely fine, runts. But you can see that."

Kyoko grinned down at Nanoha and Fate, who were staring at the smooth skin under where her cast had been.

"But it..."

"Had a chunk of steel through it? So it did. I suppose this is a benefit to the whole Soul Gem thing, eh? To think I was a lich the whole time and I had no idea... Not that it changes anything. More food for me, eh?"

She devoured another bite of apple with shocking ferocity. Behind her, an elegant girl with twintails smiled and sipped her tea.

"You should eat slowly, Kyoko-chan. Savor your food."

Kyoko's haphazard grin seemed to widen somehow. "And you should appreciate being alive, Goldilocks."

Mami just sipped another sip of tea. "Oh, I certainly do. Right, Nanoha?"

Nanoha giggled. "Right!"

Fate just smiled.

The four of them enjoyed their happy ending.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, Admiral! Please come in!"

Admiral Lindy came in, bearing tea of her own...

Green tea..

With... Milk... and... Sugar...

Mami leveled a gun at her head.

"This is a _disgrace_ to every tea and tea drinker I have ever known."

"Oh, my..."

* * *

After Mami's Soul Gem had cleared, and the Witch program had been dealt with, Mami and Nanoha had been disconnected. It had taken a while for Nanoha to awaken, but the elegant magical girl had woken up relatively quickly. A flurry of explanations ensued. Normally, the reality of her situation would have broken her.

Waking up in a spaceship was anything but normal. Besides, she was still happy from defeating the beast within her along with Nanoha. The swell of that victory carried her through the trough of those revelations.

Not to mention Kyoko being with her, and having Nanoha and Fate to hug and comfort her... The crew of the Arthra quickly became almost a second family to Mami. And when Fate used her full name, the refined girl had an inkling of following in Fate's footsteps.

An inkling that was a tale for another time. More currently, there was the matter of their Soul Gems. Amy had a few... somewhat scary ideas as to what she could do with the process she had used earlier and two conscious and willing test subjects. And it didn't hurt nearly as much.

Everyone else on the ship eventually managed to talk her down into simply stabilizing Kyoko's Soul Gem as they had for Mami's, and installing basic recharging functions so the girls wouldn't need to depend entirely on Grief Seeds for mana. It wasn't much, but no one wanted to tinker around too much with people's souls. Or things very much like souls, at any rate. Lindy wasn't even sure if what they were doing was technically legal, but since neither was the creation of the Soul Gems in the first place, they could probably get away with it. Probably. If they didn't mention this particular facet.

….Okay, so this was probably a bad idea, but even so, it was for the greater good. And it turned out alright in the end, didn't it?

Didn't it?

* * *

After their 'operations' had finished, Mami found herself in a meeting. A strategy meeting, a meeting on what to do with their mission, and Mami was the guest of honor.

"So Kyubey tricked us. The closest thing I had to a friend and he turned out to be anything but... Why would he do such a thing?"

Lindy sighed, and looked the worried Mami squarely in the eyes. "That's part of what we're here for. We were sent to investigate the dimensional tremors.. which turned out to be caused by the Witch, Walpurgisnacht, and by Homura's time travel. Both have been traced to Kyubey, or others of his kind. Creating a system such as this is a serious crime, and we intend to get to the bottom of this. Will you help us, Ms. Tomoe?"

Mami blinked. Would she help the people who had saved her life not once, but at least twice? And done the same for Kyoko? This wasn't even a hard question.

"I would be honored to do anything I can!"

A smile. "Good."

**Part One End**

* * *

Okay, first off, the elephant in the room, before anyone asks: Why'd I write this after my excuse for writing it was gone?

It's not like I own anything. Since I pretty much stole this, you can steal it back at your leisure. Frankly, I'm amazed that the author of Nanoha Magica endorsed this. But I had fun writing it, property or not. It was a real blast.

Second, why is this the end of Part One? Because I plan to have this take up three parts, each one about as long, chapter-wise, as this. Yes, I have a plan. It's not the most detailed plan, but it is a plan, and I'm happy to say that there are some hints I've dropped, some subtle and others not-so-subtle, about what will be happening in the future of this fanfic.

Third, how is this being written? One part at a time. See, it's also a convenient way for me to organize my posting and chapters. Story arcs, the diagram of a story, that sort of thing.

Fourth, special thanks to Aklyon for beta-reading. :)

Fifth, thanks for reading. It's been a pleasure. Leave a review, and you might be featured in the beginning of Part 2!


End file.
